Ryou was half-curled on his side with his eyes closed and his hands over his ears. He opened a bloodshot eye as the other two hikaris joined him on the floor. The other side of his face was already bruising and puffy. "It can't be okay," he whispered through a cracking voice. "I don't... I'm-" A sob caused his chest to lurch. Ryou flinched. "It hurts to breath. Breathing hurts." Ryou gingerly touched a slice high on his side, where the sharp edges of the Rod had glanced off his ribs.
Yugi used his waist wrap to bandage Ryou's bloody arm, trying to put pressure on the wound. His hands shook with repressed panic. He had to stay calm right now. He couldn't think if he didn't stay calm. His eyes darted over Ryou's body, trying to figure out which cuts were deep and which cuts were shallow.
"There's no choosing," Ryou breathed. "I thought," another short breath, "I could take it. I forgot..."
His breath didn't sound particularly gurgly or wheezing at least. Just short. "Sh, don't talk," Yugi said.
Ryou's eyes welled up. "But-" But he'd promised, and he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but what Melvin said and if Melvin said something awful, there was no battle to pick. With the Ring Spirit sometimes he could make it okay, but there was no okay anymore, and he didn't know what to do with that...
Marik tied his piece of cloth around a deep slice on Ryou's leg. The pale back was still bleeding, however, and when they tried to help Ryou sit up he cried out and clutched his ribs again. With a lot of wincing and apologies, they managed to at least roll him onto his side. Marik pressed the last waist wrap against the wound on Ryou's back while Yugi cradled Ryou's head in his lap.
Despite their best efforts, tiny flowers of blood eventually bloomed through the makeshift bandages. "We need something else," Marik said.
"What do we have?" Yugi glanced about frantically. "Pillows? Curtains? Can we get the curtains down?" They might be able to use strips of the curtains for tourniquets on his arm and leg, but what about his back? They needed a long term solution.
"Take it," Marik said. Once Yugi had taken over applying pressure to Ryou's back, Marik went to see how flimsy the curtains around the toilet really were. He gave them a few tugs, hanging with all his weight. If he had something sharp...
He was just working up the courage to search the torture room for an option when the door opened. Marik's fingers curled tightly into one of the purple draperies. Yugi curled reflexively over Ryou, as thought his small body could offer any sort of protection.
Melvin stopped at the table and tapped on it with the Rod. "Come here, puppet."
Yugi curled tighter around his friend. He didn't want to end up in the same position, but he couldn't let Melvin hurt Ryou, either.
Melvin's hard gaze focused on the short hikari. "What are you crying for?"
It was a direct question. He had to answer direct questions, right? "I don't want you to hurt him," Yugi choked out.
Melvin chuckled. "It's too late for that isn't it?" He focused on Ryou. "Hop to it, puppet. You haven't got all day."
"I have to do what he says," Ryou whimpered.
"No," Yugi whispered. "No, Ryou, I've lost too many people this week..."
"Yugi, please, I have to..."
Ryou pulled against Yugi's grip. It wouldn't have been hard to physically restrain him at this point, but Ryou gave him a pleading look, and Yugi's grip loosened. Of course Ryou couldn't stand, but he managed to get himself up on all fours. Yugi muffled a sob on the back of his hand as he watched Ryou's painstaking progress.
Melvin rolled his eyes when Ryou's limbs shuddered and dropped him.
"He needs help," Yugi insisted, trying his hardest to avoid anything that sounded like a 'no.'
"Then quit sitting there sniveling about it and bring him to me," Melvin said.
There was no way he was done with any of them. Marik knew that much. He wouldn't kill Ryou. At least not on purpose.
It took the bronze hikari a moment to figure out the best way to get Ryou on his feet. Ryou wasn't heavy, but every attempt to hold himself upright or stretch his side caused a hiss of pain. Once Ryou had an arm around his neck, however, Marik managed to keep him up without much trouble. Memories of his first meeting with Bakura came to mind. Ryou had hung from Marik's shoulders scared and hurt and confused then, too. Back then the real owner of the body had been some nebulous concept that didn't seem quite real to Marik. Bakura had been the one in the front. Bakura had been the one who'd calmly allowed Marik to stab him. Now that he'd spent as much time talking to Ryou as he'd spent talking to Bakura, Marik felt awful for forgetting that he was a real person.
Marik hesitated at the edge of the table, wondering what to do next. Melvin tapped the Rod on the table again. Marik gritted his teeth, but nothing could prepare him for the shriek Ryou emitted as Marik swept his legs out from under him and laid him out on the gold surface. Once Marik had finished his role in things, the Rod jabbed him hard in the chest. The bronze hikari stumbled back and fell down.
Ryou stared up at Melvin, breathing his shallow, rapid breaths, so scared that he could've cried if his eyes weren't already watering from pain.
Melvin leaned close to whisper, "The small one is weak and naive. The prissy one is stubborn and desperate. You," he tapped Ryou on the nose, "were made for quiet obedience. I expect you to be an example for them at all times. Is that clear to you now?"
Ryou nodded, whispering only because proper talking took too much air. "Yes. I'm sorry I forgot myself..."
Melvin straightened up and reached into the folds of his cloak. "Roll over."
Setting his jaw against the flare of pain in his side, Ryou rolled onto his belly. His peripheral vision caught a small flash of gold in Melvin's hands. A gold need and gold thread. There was no anesthetic when Melvin started stitching up his back, but what was a little more pain on top of everything else?
Melvin raised his voice so all of them could hear. "I'd had a game all planned out for today. I was really excited about it. Unfortunately, I doubt my shattered porcelain doll has the blood to spare at the moment." He looked down at Marik sitting on his hip. At Yugi crouched near the bath hugging himself. He snarled his demented grin. "I'd seriously considered letting you two starve for a day or two, just for inconveniencing for me. You're lucky I have a two player game I've been wanting to try." He broke the thread with his teeth. "Give me your arm, rabbit."
Ryou turned on his back and let Melvin unwrap his arm. He felt strangely calm now that all Melvin wanted to do was stitch up his wounds. All he had to do was obey while he did it. It was so easy. He didn't know how long it would last, but he'd always believed in appreciating whatever he could get.
"We're going to play the game now," Melvin said without looking up from Ryou's arm. "Get some oil, panda bear, and bring it here. I don't care which one."
Melvin had left in such a huff and a hurry that he hadn't bothered to close the bath cabinet. Yugi grabbed a bottle at random. Melvin didn't look up from Ryou's arm until the short hikari had taken his position next to the bronze hikari. "Pour it on each other." The needle darted in and out of Ryou's flesh. "I want both of you slick from neck to feet."
Marik and Yugi exchanged nervous glances. He poured the bottle over one of Marik's shoulders. It smelled like eucalyptus. At first he was worried about rationing it to cover both of them, but it flowed without showing any sign of stopping. The short hikari poured it in a long, slow, horizontal line from one tan shoulder to the other. Thick drips oozed down Marik's chest and belly. Marik leaned back on his hands and stretched out his legs as Yugi drew glistening zigzags down his body. Then he did the same thing on Marik's back. Then they traded places. By the time Melvin finished closing up Ryou's leg, both of the other hikaris were indeed slick and shiny from neck to toes.
"Good. Now all you have to do is try to sodomize each other. First one to finish wins. Any questions?"
Yugi cringed.
Marik asked, "What are the stakes?" It was suspicious that he hadn't mentioned them.
Melvin simply raised an eyebrow. Violet eyes flicked toward Ryou and back. Marik wasn't sure if he was threatening to do the same thing he did to Ryou to them, or threatening to hurt Ryou more. It didn't matter much. Yugi had that look on his face that said he'd do anything to keep the others from being hurt. If Yugi was willing to take the fall, Marik didn't have the will to keep fighting about it anymore.
Yugi squeaked when Marik grabbed his arm and tried to pull him down. Marik's hand slipped off, but Yugi's hand slipped out from under him when he reached out to catch himself on the slick marble floor. The short hikari started to push himself up on all fours, but Marik was behind him. A slick arm trapped him in a half nelson as Marik tried to stroke himself hard with his free hand. Yugi thought about letting it happen, but Melvin probably wanted to watch them struggle as much as he wanted to watch them screw, if not more. The short hikari twisted sideways, sliding his arm free.
Yugi went down on his back. Marik landed on top of him. Small hands shoved weakly at the bronze chest. Marik grabbed Yugi's wrists tightly and pinned them at either side of his head. The smaller hikari's wrists twisted in his grip, but he couldn't get them free. Marik's knee slipped between Yugi's thighs, wedging them apart, but after that he couldn't figure out how to get an actual angle for penetration without Yugi simply letting him do it. Gods, the fact that he was even having to consider any of this made him sick.
The short hikari pulled his knees up to his chest and pushed at Marik's hips and thighs with his feet. Marik was already still stronger than him, but it also didn't help that his feet kept slipping. At least he didn't actually have to stop Marik. Just put up enough of a fight to make it look like he tried.
The bronze hikari turned his body sideways and managed to leverage his slick torso between Yugi's knees. Their bellies slid together as Yugi bucked and tried to roll. Marik settled on top of him, putting his weight into the pin as well. "Okay?" Marik whispered into Yugi's hair. He felt Yugi nod once. "Okay..." The second one was more for steadying himself. His hips pressed forward, but he'd only managed half-mast and couldn't quite get past the ring of muscle hands-free.
Marik squeezed his eyes shut and pictured Bakura. He knew what Bakura would've looked like naked. White hair fanned out around his head. Knees up and lolling open. Smirking that cheeky smirk as he toyed with himself. Daring Marik to take the opening he presented so luridly and unabashedly.
Yugi's little cry disturbed Marik's fantasy, but he already had the tip in. From there, the oil made it easier to sink slowly to the hilt. And it didn't even feel bad, physically. Marik cringed as he started moving. Awkward. Trying to find a rhythm between the guilt of hurting Yugi and the awe of having something so warm and tight hugging his dick.
Yugi tried to hold in his pained moans. He didn't want to make Marik feel any worse. He pressed his lips together and hid his face against his arm. He held his breath until his lungs burned, panted to get it back, and then held it again. It wasn't quite as bad as one of Melvin's poundings. They had the oil, and Marik was at least trying to be gentle, but it still hurt.
Marik focused on the physical sensations. "Okay..." he breathed softly again. He sped up a bit. "Almost... almost..." And then he was panting. And then everything tensed and tingled. Bakura's phantom moans filled his imagination. Yes. Bakura. Bakura!
And then everything went empty and cold as the fantasy unraveled in the aftermath of his orgasm. Marik slid down and out, burying his face in Yugi's neck, sucking deep and uneven breaths. Bakura...
Melvin cackled, clapping. "Oh, I can't wait to have all three of my little toys up and ticking again. We're going to have so much fun!" He turned his leer on Ryou. "Especially the part where you promised to suck everyone off. You really are a good little thing."
Ryou flinched as Melvin pinched his cheek, but he didn't say anything. Keeping his mouth shut really was the best option. He wished he'd figured that out sooner.
"I'll bring you something to replenish all of the energy you expended today." He sneered at the short hikari. "I'll have to show you what you lost tomorrow. Pity, that. But there is something to be said for building anticipation." Melvin swept out of the room with giddy, gleeful laughter bubbling in his wake.
Ryou closed his eyes and focused on breathing. Yugi stared blankly at the ceiling, stroking Marik's hair. He could feel the tears dripping off Marik's face, but that was the only way he could tell that the other hikari was crying. At least they'd all get to eat today.